The Lawman's Runaway Bride by Patricia Johns

Author:Patricia Johns [Johns, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-11-01T18:15:34+00:00

Chapter Nine

Chance’s parents, Bonnie and Patrick Morgan, lived on the far south side of Comfort Creek in a little brown house at the end of a street. Their backyard opened onto an empty field that their dog ran through most of the day. Twenty-eight years ago, it was ten-year-old Chance and Noah wandering that field together, poking at stuff with sticks and talking about what they’d do when they were grown-up. They’d had a yellow Labrador retriever back then—Nancy. Chance had loved that dog...

Those walks had stopped when they got to be teenagers, when Nancy was an elderly dog and the boys had outgrown their romps. There was always a part of Chance’s heart that saw the image of two young boys tramping across a snow-encrusted field when he looked out at it this time of year. Childhood was fleeting, but those boyhood memories had turned into a foundation for his and Noah’s relationship. They were opposites in so many ways, but they’d always been brothers who could open their hearts and talk it out while they poked at things with a stick in the middle of a field.

Chance parked in the driveway of his childhood home and hopped out. The outside of the house hadn’t changed too much over the years. There had been some fresh coats of brown paint—always brown—and a tree had been toppled by a storm in the front yard, but other than that, it was the same. The driveway was clear. His father had used the snowblower that morning, it seemed. Patrick Morgan was a handy kind of guy. If you gave him duct tape and a hammer, he was likely to fix whatever was broken, except the Wi-Fi—that still fell to Chance.

“Chance!” His mother opened the side screen door with a clatter. A black mutt dashed out behind her and met Chance with some chaotic licking and a wriggling rear end.

Bonnie Morgan was a petite, round woman with chin-length brown hair with only a hint of gray tucked behind her ears. She waited until Chance was finished with the dog before she added, “You’re here.”

“Miss me?” he asked with a smile.

“Always, sweetheart. Now please fix my internet.” She wore a flower-print apron over her jeans and sweater, almost like an afterthought. She’d done that when he was growing up, too.

Chance followed her inside, the dog coming up behind. He kicked off his snowy boots and stepped into some slippers waiting for him. He gave the dog an extra pet while he was bent down there, anyway.

“You hungry?” his mother asked.

Chance headed into the den where the router was located. There was a faded couch in there, and a woodstove. It always smelled a little bit like fire, and he liked that. He bent down next to the familiar router and modem, and the dog flopped down on his bed next to the couch.

“I’ll be okay,” he said. “I’m dropping some papers by Sadie’s place after this, so I don’t want to take too long.

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